Ma-Ra
by ptdf
Summary: Acolytes came to our school when I was eight, somber women in feathered cloaks and falcon hoods.


**Ma-Ra**

* * *

Acolytes came to our school when I was eight, somber women in feathered cloaks and falcon hoods.

"Witches," Keeber said knowingly.

"Scientists," said Penny, less certain.

"Scary," I said, hoping for compromise.

"Can you imagine?" said Keeber, stabbing with a pencil. "Becoming the new She-Ra?"

"Boys can't be She-Ra," said Penny. "Randor was a girl."

Ada Randor. Hero of the Insurrection, martyr. Keeber had a lunchbox with her face until Vesser and the older boys made fun of him. I think he still does.

"Nonsense," said Keeber. "Anyone can hold the Sword."

"So why haven't they?" I said. It was a long-running debate.

"Barris said Therin said that when She-Ra dies her spirit moves to a new baby," said Penny.

"So boys can't be She-Ra, but babies can?" said Keeber.

"They don't transform immediately, _obviously_," said Penny, buying time. "It's… it's only after they grow up."

"Cute," I said, picturing a red-caped toddler with amazing hair.

"Terrifying," said Keeber. "Remember when Beatrice's baby brother threw a tantrum and broke a tooth? Imagine that with She-Ra powers."

Good point.

"Besides," said Keeber, "Randor died years before we were born."

"Maybe he did some haunting before settling down," said Penny, defiant.

Keeber had a retort but the class hushed as an acolyte entered and spoke quietly with Mr. Sunders. He nodded, pointed at the front row: "Spritina."

Sprit shot up, startled, followed the acolyte as if condemned. Whispered conversation swelled in their wake. What would they do to her?

"They put your hand in a tiny oven and a poison needle at your neck, to keep you from pulling it out," said Penny.

"What's that supposed to accomplish?" I asked, suitably terrified.

"If you're She-Ra you can take the pain," said Penny.

"And everyone gets a burned hand?" said Keeber. "Who told you this?"

"Barris said…"

"Barris is an idiot," said Keeber.

"You're an idiot," Penny shot back.

Sprit came back and sat down quietly. Her hands didn't look burned from where I was sitting, but my mind quickly supplied alternative tortures. A charred toe perhaps, so people wouldn't notice as much. The school wouldn't let them hurt us. Right?

Students filed in and out until…

"Mara, you're up."

Penny mimed keeping her fist steadfastly in the fire, Keeber squeezed my hand in support. It would have worked better if he weren't shaking. I tried to focus on the other possibility: they could ask me to hold the Sword and say the famous words, as kids all over Etheria already did while wacking each other with sticks. Then I would get to be She-Ra and help people and hopefully be excused from the math quiz on Friday.

The acolytes had set up a table in an empty classroom.

"I am Sister Annatar," said the eldest, pointing to the available seat. "This will only take a minute. Do you have any questions?"

I was bursting with questions. I had to make it count.

"Is it true you can turn into falcons?"

Sister Annatar smiled, dabbed cold jelly on my forehead and placed two small metal discs. I noticed she didn't answer my question.

I froze when I realized the discs were wired to a small box on the table. It didn't look like an oven, but if acolytes could turn into birds (which they hadn't denied), miniature child-torturing ovens didn't seem out of the question.

"Don't worry," said Annatar, "it won't hurt."

That was a relief, but how had she known? Were they reading my mind to see whether I was worthy of She-Ra? I tried to think pure thoughts, but my mind kept going to Penny's purple pencil in my bag. I was going to return it, honest.

The acolytes watched the box and whispered amongst themselves. Maybe they only fetched the oven depending on what they found in our souls. I had to confess…

"That will be all," said Sister Annatar, removing the discs and handing me a paper towel. "Thank you."

I held on to it as relief washed over with a tinge of disappointment. It would've been fun to be She-Ra.

#

"_Blue-Two, this is Blue-One,_" the earpiece crackled as the skiff sped. "_Radio check_."

"Keeber…" said Penny. We were feeling very sharp in Colonial Guard green and yellow.

"_Blue-Two, please maintain information security,_" said Keeber. "_This Keeber fellow sounds handsome. Radio check._"

"Keeber," said Penny, "we're standing next to each other."

"_Roger that,_" said Keeber. "_Radio check complete._"

"How come you get to be Blue-One?" said Penny.

"Why can't you be content with your station in life, like Blue-Three?" said Keeber, finally off coms.

"The revolution will be bloody," I said, smiling. "We're almost at… uh-oh."

"What's uh-oh?" said Keeber, searching the control panel. "Is that supposed to be blinking?"

"Could be a glitch," I said, tapping the offending light. "We'll ask the mech crew to…"

The skiff plummeted out of the sky.

"Mayday, mayday!" I yelled into coms. "Blue Squad going down on coordinates…"

We plowed into hot sand.

"Everyone okay?" groaned Penny.

"Scorpio Base, do you copy?" They didn't. "Coms are busted."

The skiff shifted.

"That wasn't just me, right?" said Keeber.

"Everybody off!" Penny cried.

We scampered onto the dune as the remains of the skiff sank into quicksand, surrounded by rusty cliffs and little else. It hadn't always been like this. The Agni Empress had ruled Etheria from Redwood. The holos were beautiful: a forest in perpetual autumn, colors shifting like, well, fire - the metaphor used by every school book on the planet was obvious but true. Then came the Eternians and the Insurrection. Randor had taken the fight to the Scarlet Spire itself when they unleashed their doomsday device. Now there was only the Waste.

"They'll send a search party, right?" said Keeber.

"Assuming the scanners even work here," said Penny, kicking the dune. "We should be out there fighting the war, not stuck on this backwater planet!"

"Let's get out of the sun," I said. "There's a cave."

"Wait," said Penny. "There's going to be a giant scorpion inside, isn't there?"

"Actually…" said Keeber, pointing behind us.

Yep, giant scorpion. Did I mention our service blasters had nobly gone down with the ship?

We ran screaming into the cave. The scorpion snapped after us, but was too big for the entrance. That didn't keep it from trying, of course.

"Maybe it'll attract the search party" I said hopefully.

"Yeah, and eat them," said Penny.

The entrance started to crack.

"Keeber, tell me there's more cave back there," I said.

"Dead end," Keeber called back. "You guys have to see this!"

"Please don't say giant scorpion," said Penny.

"Much better," said Keeber, grinning.

There was a faint glow at the back of the cave, centered on the sword piercing the ground at his feet. We would have recognized it anywhere.

"No way," I said.

"Wasn't that supposed to be locked away like a mile below High Command?" said Penny.

"They never did officially confirm or deny," said Keeber. "We have to try, right?"

"But the acolytes…" said Penny.

"C'mon," I said, dragging her along. "You know you want to."

The three of us grabbed the hilt, giggling a little.

"_For the honor of Grayskull._"

#

"Portal system online," Light Hope chirped. "Ready to initiate testing."

It was night outside the embarrassingly She-Ra shaped station. Who came up with these designs?

"Okay..." I said. "Go for it."

"The portal is operated by the Sword," said Light Hope.

"Oh, I knew that," I said. "How does one do said operating, again?"

"Not having wielded the Sword, it is difficult for me to say," said Light Hope. "I imagine you would generate a repulsive spin-spin interaction between the torsion tensor and the Dirac spinors to prevent the formation of a gravitational singularity and stabilize the bridge."

"Right, spin-spin thingy," I said. "Got it."

"Are you certain?" asked Light Hope.

"Of course I am," I said before I could change my mind. "_For the honor of Grayskull_."

Wielding the Sword didn't make it any easier to explain. I could feel its link to the portal system, and beneath it all the beating, living energy of Etheria. It didn't flood me with Hope's topological equations, as I feared, but didn't provide much guidance either. I tried to think of Penny, fighting offworld like she had wanted, hoping the Sword would catch my drift.

Rainbow strings danced in the sky, forming a loop. The stars inside were wrong.

"Well done," said Light Hope. "Scanning now."

"Did we do it?" I asked. "Is it Geolon?"

"This system is in a different dimension," said Light Hope. "The third planet is inhabited by a primitive civilization. We will record this for future investigation."

"A different _dimension_?"

"Precisely," said Light Hope. "Randor was calibrating the portal using a smaller pocket dimension, Despondos. The testing was interrupted by the Insurrection."

"But what for?"

"It will allow us to transport forces much faster than the waypoint network," said Light Hope.

"The war isn't going well, is it?" I asked.

"It is not."

#

"Captain Mara," snapped the blue holo.

"Sister Annatar," I replied, startled. She looked old. "You look… well."

"Enough pleasantries," said Annatar. "We have initiated the evacuation of Eternian citizens."

"What? Are we under attack?"

"Not yet," said Annatar. "The Council has authorized the deployment of Etheria."

"Okay... How do you deploy a planet, exactly?"

"The Nechung and La-tso AIs agree portal capabilities are sufficient," said Annatar. "Do you disagree?"

Etheria's energy sure felt up to it, but portaling a whole planet? Wouldn't I burn like a fuse?

"I can try," I replied, still trying to wrap my head around it. "Where are we falling back to?"

"To the Front," said Annatar.

What? "I feel like I'm missing something."

"Of course," said Annatar, tapping offscreen. "I have given you security clearance for the Heart of Etheria Project." As if it weren't something I'd been demanding for years.

"Etheria was colonized to weaponize it's unique magical energy," said Annatar. We developed the lesser runestones to channel this energy, one runestone to control it."

"The Sword," I whispered.

"Your predecessor was testing this power against Redwood," said Annatar. "The test failed."

"There was never a doomsday device…"

"Not on Redwood's side," said Annatar. "Misplacing the Sword severely delayed the Project. Until it found its way to you."

"But you tested me yourself…"

"You and your friends had very high affinity scores," said Annatar. "It is the reason we had you flying useless missions over the Waste."

"Did you try looking for it?" I said, anger rising. "It wasn't that hard to find."

"Countless resources were expended," Annatar said wryly. "The superstitious among us thought the Sword did not wish to be found."

"So now what? We start burning kingdoms?"

"You always think too small, Mara," said Annatar, smiling. "Planets."

"This is madness!"

"This is war," said Annatar.

"I won't do it."

She had the nerve to look hurt. "I should have expected this, considering your psych profile. Some of the Sisters wanted you replaced, but I _believed_ in you, Mara. Oh well." More tapping. "I have activated the security drones. If you won't do it we will find someone who will. There will always be a She-Ra."

"We'll see about that," I said, grabbing the Sword. "_For the honor of Grayskull._"


End file.
